Matt Down Under

Two weeks ago I went on another trip to explore Tasmania’s wild Southwest world heritage area. After walking the South Coast Track last year, I was keen to return for another trip along the coast, hiking along unspoilt beaches and on some of the less popular routes is fascinating me.

My original plan was to fly to Melaleuca and walk the track to Wilson’s Bight. From there I would walk north across untracked territory, crossing the South West Cape range, and from Noyhener Beach I would walk east until the route meets with the Port Davey Track. Depending on conditions I was then planning to walk out on Port Davey Track. In total I wanted to spend between 10 and 14 days.

Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned - after only 4 days I was already back in Hobart. On the second day, while approaching Hidden Bay, I slipped out on a steep part of the track and twisted my knee so badly that for a few minutes I was sure something was broken and I wouldn’t be able to walk on - very painful minutes, both mentally and physically.

Some time later I managed to get back up on my feet. I wasn’t far from Ketchem Bay so I decided to try and walk there, I was hoping my knee would improve over night so I wouldn’t have to return. Sadly it didn’t improve at all and looked like a serious injury, so I decided to return to Melaleuca. I thought it would probably be a bad idea to attempt to cross the South West Cape range solo with an injured knee and a very heavy backpack. Since I live in Hobart and have a flexible job I can afford coming back another time so I don’t need to take unnecessary risks.

So on the third day I made the sad decision to return to Melaleuca and maybe stay there to see if things improve. During a very long day of limping along the track, I actually managed to walk all the way back to Melaleuca and arrived there after sunset. The next day the knee was still swollen and at the same time the weather seemed to get worse every day, so I grabbed the chance to fly back with a friendly TasAir pilot.

I’m still disappointed since I put so much time and money into planning this trip. But even after two weeks now I still have trouble walking, so hiking on for another 10 days would have been a very stupid decision. Sometimes shit happens and you can’t change it, but during those few days I actually learnt a few valuable lessons.

Here’s a short diary of the whole trip with some insight on future trip planning at the end.

Day 1 - Melaleuca - New Harbour

My flight to Melaleuca with ParAvion was scheduled for 9am but because of heavy rain and storm it was delayed until past noon. The flight itself was great, we had to fly around the bad weather area and basically followed the coastline, which gave me the chance to see the whole South Coast Track from Cockle Creek to Melaleuca from the air - very impressive to see the Ironbound Range and the steep track that I climbed last year.

In Melaleuca suddenly the weather was terrific, sunshine, blue sky, hiking weather. I went to Deny King’s bird hide before I left, like I did last year, but again I didn’t see much. I wasn’t in a hurry and had some lunch first, in the end I left Melaleuca long after everyone else, including a group of young backpackers probably from the mainland - guessing from the airport tags on their packs. I was watching them while they prepared for leaving, but I decided not to comment on their plan to walk the South Coast Track with basic running shoes and no gaiters. Some people need to learn it the hard way.

It always takes me a while to get used to the heavy backpack again, but after an hour it was alright. I had a déjà vu on the first kilometres, it felt like last year when I started on the South Coast Track, the clean air, the silence, I love it.

It didn’t take long and I reached the turn-off where Wilson’s Bight track leaves the South Coast Track. I was glad when I saw the group of backpackers continued on the main track and didn’t take the turn-off like I did - I was looking for a quite trip without party people on the camp site.

The track down to New Harbour was easy and short, I even managed to catch up with a couple from Hobart who left Melaleuca an hour before me. It turned out they were members of the Hobart Walking Club and planned to walk to Wilson’s Bight.

New Harbour was beautiful, wild beach, just beautiful, exactly how I like it. I simply followed the couple and therefore didn’t have to check my notes for the campsite location. It took me ages to set up my camp, a very disappointing experience. I simply carried too much stuff in too many bags, far too complicated. I decided to revisit my planning and packing process when back home.

Finally everything was set up and while rehydrating food I went back to the freshwater lagoon at the eastern end of the beach for washing and changing clothes. When I came back to have dinner, I was greeted by a spotted-tail quoll sneaking around my tent. The only quolls I ever saw were on the Overland Track and they were much smaller, so I was surprised to see a quoll larger than a domestic cat. Too bad I didn’t find my camera in time to get a great shot.

Before going to bed I went down to the beach again, walking barefoot along the beach during sunset is something I enjoy.

Day 2 - New Harbour - Ketchem Bay

I had a good sleep but the weather in the morning didn’t look promising. Soon after it started to rain, one of those moments when I’m happy I always carry a tarp, I was able to pack up my luggage almost without getting wet. But again it took me ages to get ready and just when I was about to leave, it came pouring down like never before. Not a great start into the day, bad weather always ruins my day.

I had a bit of trouble finding the track but once found it was easy to follow. It required climbing around several fallen logs and other obstacles, but nothing too serious. The track wasn’t particularly difficult but near Hidden Bay there was a short forest section with a steep decline. It was all wet from the rain and then it happend: I slipped out with the one foot and while falling I twisted my knee on the other leg. It was really painful and the first few seconds I thought I would probably have to use the PLB I bought only 3 days before. I was sure something must be broken, I sat there for several minutes holding my knee, thinking about what to do.

Since it was deep forest, I figured I would have to leave the forest anyway if I needed to call help, so I tried to get back up on my feet and startet to walk around slowly, trying to find out if whether it was something serious or only a muscle strain. After a long break I decided to continue to Hidden Bay, it was only about half an hour away. It was quite painful to walk but somehow I managed to get there.

By the time I arrived the weather was so horrible that I hoped to find a good campsite so I could stay there. It looked promising so I started to set up my camp and have lunch. While I sat there I noticed two things: first of all the weather suddenly improved dramatically, within only minutes, and secondly, the campsite was full of leeches. They were everywhere. It took me a while to decide what to do but in the end I decided to walk another 1-2 hours to Ketchem Bay. I don’t know why, but somehow I was hoping my knee would improve over night, I couldn’t get used to the idea of having to return. It was swollen, but I was able to walk slowly. So I walked to Ketchem Bay, which in the end took a lot longer than I thought.

On my way there I saw a green snake on the track which really surprised me, I thought all snakes in Tasmania were brown or black, never saw a green one before. At Ketchem Bay I was glad I did the additional walk, the campsite was fantastic. I went to bed early hoping that the swelling would go away over night. But somehow I knew it was kind of utopic.

Day 3 - Ketchem Bay - Melaleuca

When I got up I didn’t notice any improvement, the knee was still swollen and walking was difficult. I tried to get used to the fact that this trip was over and decided to take it slowly that morning. Suddenly I noticed my food bag looked kind of weird. Upon closer inspection I noticed some animal had picked holes in it and stole some of the food inside. I couldn’t believe it, it was a strong airtight bag hanging 2m above the ground from a rope, what sort of animal managed to do that? And how did it figure out that there’s food inside in the first place? My only conclusion is that it must have been a bird sitting on top of the back picking holes into the sides. Scary.

Well this basically meant I would have to walk all the way to Melaleuca if possible, staying at New Harbour with an open food bag would probably mean defending the camp all night, something I wasn’t very keen on.

Disappointed I packed my luggage, had breakfast and left Ketchem Bay. On my way to Hidden Bay I met the lady from the Hobart Walking Club again, she was walking to Ketchem Bay as a day trip while their camp remained at Hidden Bay.

Probably around 4pm I was at New Harbour, it had taken me almost twice the time it would normally take. I had lunch and was convinced I would be able to walk for another 3-4 hours to Melaleuca, knowing it wouldn’t get dark until sometime after 8pm. Unfortunately on the way to Melaleuca the weather got worse, I had rain and wind coming towards me most of the time.

After 8pm I arrived at Melaleuca, completely done for the day. I wished I would have stayed at New Harbour, but on the other hand I was glad to have a bed in a hut. I seemed to be the only person around. I hung up the wet clothes, cooked dinner and then went sleeping quite soon. The weather on the last 5km had been just horrible.

Day 4 - Melaleuca - Hobart

I had a very good sleep and in the morning noticed I was still the only person around, I enjoyed the silence. Walking was still painful so the last piece of hope to walk out on the Port Davey Track disappeared. I noticed the weather looked pretty bad, so I was prepared to spend at least another day in Melaleuca and went back inside the hut to escape the rain. I didn’t expect any airplanes considering the weather. From inside I was able to see the airstrip, so I sat down, read a book and waited.

Later in the morning an airplane from ParAvion arrived, despite the cloudy and wet conditions. Unfortunately it was loaded with a group of day tourists and no seat was left, so I left my details with the pilot. He expected another airplane for the afternoon, maybe my chance to fly out. Only half an hour later however, a TasAir machine arrived and was able to take me back to Hobart. Before we left we saw another spotted-tail quoll walking around us for several minutes. Cute.

The flight back really baffled me. It was so cloudy and windy that we had to fly on very low altitude along the coast. Surprisingly, as soon as we crossed the border of the Southwest National Park, it was beautiful hot sunshine, like we just entered a whole different climate zone. The Southwest is fascinating, but so unpredictable and rough.

Conclusion

Like I mentioned above, I learned some good lessons on this trip. Hard to believe, but I think I was too good prepared.

Negatives:

• I carried far too much stuff. On the first night and the next morning I noticed it took me ages to unpack and pack all my luggage. I had so many bags and items, it really annoyed me. I didn’t take my tripod with me this time, but there was still too much stuff, I need to reduce a lot of things next time and pack it less complicated - less bags, and somehow I’m still not completely satisfied with my tent/tarp situation.
• My backpack was still too heavy. I thought I made progress with 24kg including food for 2 weeks, but it was too heavy. I never want to carry anything above 18-19kg anymore. It easily ruins the whole trip and maybe I wouldn’t have slipped out if my pack hadn’t been so heavy.
• I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before, but I was just stupid to carry all the food with me. I should have left half of it at Melaleuca and pick it up when I finished the South West Cape circuit. It would have made things a lot easier.
• Food bag: I still have no explanation for how it could have happened that some animal destroys my food bag during the night, even though it was a strong airtight bag hanging from a rope two metres above the ground. Tasmania is a real challenge. Next time I try to bring an indestructible bag, made from kevlar or something like that. Electric fencing might be an option too (just kidding).
• Some of the campsites, especially the ones around New Harbour, were full of rubbish. Most of the time I guess people were simply collecting rubbish that was washed ashore, but camping next to a pile of beer cans is still disturbing. Hopefully this will be removed some day.

Positives:

• The food from Strive Food is really worth a recommendation. Very tasty and saved me heaps of time preparing my own food.
• My new Garmont Syncro Plus GTX hiking boots are excellent. Even after 4 days in the Southwest and wet boots most of the time they still look like new.
• 4 days in the Southwest is better than no days in the Southwest. The area is magical and I’m sure I will be back.

I added new photos to my Picasa account.